NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. – The FBI has ended its investigation of a fiery car wreck that killed two other people at a border checkpoint in Niagara Falls after discovering no proof that it was once an apprehension assault, easing a duration of top tensions as Americans headed into the Thanksgiving vacation.
The FBI’s determination overdue Wednesday got here a number of hours after the car raced thru an intersection, hit a mean and was once introduced during the air sooner than slamming right into a line of cubicles and exploding at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. Local police are actually dealing with the case as a site visitors investigation.
“A search of the scene revealed no explosive materials, and no terrorism nexus was identified,” the FBI’s Buffalo office said in a statement. “The matter has been turned over to the Niagara Falls Police Department as a traffic investigation.”
A spokesman for the City of Niagara Falls said the investigation has been taken over by the Niagara Falls Police Department’s Crash Management Unit.
The two people who died were a husband and wife, according to a person briefed on the investigation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information about the people who were killed. The identities of those in the car have not yet been released.
The crash prompted the closure of the Rainbow Bridge and three other bridges connecting western New York and Ontario, as federal officials swarmed the area and both U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received briefings. Hours later, officials sought to calm concerns on what is one the busiest travel days of the year.
“Based on what we know at this moment,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference, “there is no sign of terrorist activity in this crash.”
Hochul, a Democrat, mentioned the car was once “basically incinerated” with not anything left however the engine and a scattering of charred particles. Later Wednesday night time, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer mentioned investigators had discovered “no connection to any terrorist or criminal group. He added that there was no evidence of chemicals or substances used in explosives during investigators’ swabbing of the scene.
The Rainbow Bridge has about 6,000 vehicles cross it each day, according to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory.
Witness Rickie Wilson, a Niagara Falls tour guide, was by his parked car nearby and turned around when he saw something in the air.
“I first thought it was an airplane. It looked like slow motion,” he mentioned. “I said, ‘My God, it’s a car. It’s a vehicle, and it’s flying through the air.’”
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